Internet users' experience of online advertising

21 March 2019

The ICO has commissioned research into consumers' attitudes towards and awareness of personal data used in online advertising.

This research was commissioned by the Information Commissioner’s Office. Ofcom provided advice on the research design and analysis. The objective of this research was to understand the public’s awareness and perceptions of how online advertising is served to the public based on their personal data, choices and behaviour.

Advertising technology – known as “adtech” – refers to the different types of analytics and digital tools used to direct online advertising to individual people and audiences. It relies on collecting information about how individuals use the internet, such as search and browsing histories, and personal information, such as gender and year of birth, to decide which specific adverts are presented to a particular person. Websites also use adtech to sell advertising space in real-time.

The research finds that more than half (54%) of participants would rather see relevant online adverts. But while 63% of people initially thought it acceptable for websites to display adverts, in return for the website being free to access, this fell to 36% once it was explained how personal data might be used to target adverts.